Under easy patronage Naxalites fill their coffers and spread more terror in Bihar

After the stunning
reports from Assam, it's now Bihar's turn for shocking revelations. If the Assam government's investigations reveal
that the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom were
funded by the tea industry, businessmen and
government departments, with tacit political indulgence all these years; intelligence sources say two banned
Naxalite outfits are being similarly propped up in the killing
fields of Bihar.

The Maoist Communist Centre and Party Unity -- Naxalite groups
that have struck terror in south-central Bihar comprising the
districts of Gaya, Hazaribagh, Jehanabad and Palamu -- are said to
collect huge sums of money from local businessmen, contractors,
government officials and industrial units. Reports say their
annual booty could be around Rs 300 million.

The two outfits, known for their lethal firepower and grisly brutality,
are said to run a parallel government in their areas of
influence, where the police fear to tread even in broad daylight.

The MCC, in particular, has earned considerable notoriety for
its trigger-happy squads and its tendency to deal out summary
justice in its 'people's courts.' And its sentences
have often meant execution or the chopping of limbs of its captives.

Known for savage attacks on their adversaries, the MCC and the PU have
not even balked at slaughtering women and children in the name
of the revolution. One of the MCC's most horrific carnages was
the Dalachak-Baghoura massacre of May 29, 1987. The outlawed group butchered 54 Rajputs,
including 26 children and ten women. And more recently,
the MCC mounted a surprise attack on CPI (ML)-Liberation supporters assembled at Amkudar village in the Chatra district. They killed eight of the party's activists.

The PU and the MCC have often worked in tandem, but are also engaged
in a battle for supremacy that has resulted in murderous attacks
by both sides. What the two units are believed to have in common,
however, is their ability to raise money by imposing what they
call 'levies' on rich people.

The state police is specially worried about the increasing sophistication
of the MCC-PU arsenal. Their guns outclass those used by the policemen,
and the administration is still not clear about how they are procured.
What they seem certain of, however, is that the two organisations
have money enough to buy them.

As a result, intelligence agencies have launched a special drive
to trace the bank accounts of MCC and PU leaders. Two
groups of sleuths are already at work, say police sources. One
team is looking into bank accounts in Chatra, Garhwa,
Hazaribagh and Palamu, while the other is investigating in Aurangabad, Gaya
and Jehanabad districts. The probe is expected to be completed
by December 4.

Sources say the move was mooted at a zonal level meeting
of senior police officials held in Bhubaneswar last month. The
meeting has stressed the need to cut off the supply of money to
the extremist groups. Interestingly, this has also been the strategy
of the Assam government in its drive against the ULFA.

In fact, if intelligence reports are anything to go by, the MCC
and PU seem to be building up a weapon stockpile similar to those
of the North-Eastern insurgents and the People's War Group
in Andhra Pradesh. Intelligence sources say the two outfits
are procuring sophisticated weapons such as AK-47s, AK-56s, rocket
launchers, grenades and land mines.

The MCC leaders say they regard the PWG as a
fraternal organisation and support their struggle in Andhra Pradesh.
The PU, for its part, maintains operational relations with the
PWG, ULFA and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Muivah
faction, which include arms-shopping and training. MCC leaders,
however, have denied arms procurement and links with North-Eastern
rebel groups.

Significantly, the police believe that a fairly large portion
of the funds collected by the two Maoist outfits is diverted to
other states, especially to Calcutta. Why this be so remains unexplained,
but off and on there have been reports about the city being used as
a quiet staging-post for arms-trafficking.

Who pays the extremists? The Bhubaneswar meet had stressed the
need to scrutinise the role of NGOs and Christian Action Groups
in south Bihar and their relationship with the Maoists.

The police has its own reasons to believe that NGOs and CAGs may
be helping the extremists. Last year, they point out, the deputy
commissioner of Palamu had halted a World Bank-aided project for
the drought-prone areas of Garhwa and Palamu because he felt that
funds were being diverted to the extremists by NGOs working on
the project. But conclusive evidence of their links with extremists
has yet come to light.

The police, however, confirm an extremist-contractor-politician
nexus. They say that the relationship between the banned MCC and
the ruling party in Bihar is an 'open secret.'

The Intelligence Bureau has observed that the extremist organisations
exploit lower-level officials and contractors involved with development
agencies like the District Rural Development Authority, forest, mining, irrigation, health, education and supply departments.

An intelligence report states that government officials in development
and revenue wings allow contractors to freely misuse permits and
agreements so that huge unaccounted profits are made. These surpluses
are then siphoned off with the help of government agents to fill
the coffers of the extremists.

"The situation has become
such that government agents, extremists and the working class
are happy," notes the report. In the process, the state incurs
a heavy loss, while the extremists collect crores to sustain their
cadres and movement, the report observes.

And all this is not mere propaganda to malign the 'revolutionaries.'
MCC leaders have been quite forthright about how they go about
their business. "We impose levy on contractors, particularly
those who are building roads," said one of their leaders.

The MCC's rationale for specially fleecing road-builders
is that their work helps the police into the interiors. Strangely,
they don't stop the building of roads per se. As for the PU, it
has decided that no contractor can file a tender in Palamu without
its permission. The MCC finds this 'arrogance' hard
to swallow.

The MCC claims that it stands for real development and is using
the funds for the good of the people. "We organised shramdaan
or people's voluntary participation in Morhar canal construction
in Gaya," said the leader. And added: "Levy is the source
of our sustenance and revolution needs money too."